Play Hard to Get
by XxCosmic QueenxX
Summary: just another garbage attempt at writing. My latest obsession via slow burn plutonic ;-* maybe more later if I don't hate myself too much for what I'm doing. Venom, Eddie, spoilers I guess if you haven't seen the movie? go see it lol and get back to me
1. Chapter 1

As he drifted into the cold water of the harbor the air escaped his lungs making him sink like a rock to the ocean floor. His consciousness fades and all he can hear is that raspy familiar voice echoing in his head: _**Goodbye, Eddie.**_...

...Molecules of symbiote floating in the crestfallen spray of ocean sea - how does one explain their natural desire to gravitate towards their host despite their demolished state? Damaged so by the fire the organism was no longer considered a candidate for life. Yet still...

The beep of the monitor was the first sound he heard, followed by Anne's distant and harrowed voice " _Eddie?!"_

Coming to in an ambulance he felt a wave of pain from his chest: broken ribs. A few sharp sudden breaths as he recalled his last moments of consciousness. The fire.

" _Everything is going to be okay._ " Anne reassured, still sounding like a far off drift.

Eddie had that reached in memory the moments just before hitting the water. His symbiote counterpart had sacrificed himself. Not to save the earth. Not to be the hero. But for him.

' _Be honest, what changed your mind_.'...

Out of love.

A lump grew in his throat and tears sprang to his eyes ... he instinctively thrust an arm up towards his face to shield his pride. True the creature had never said those words to him but he _felt_ it - the love paired with sacrifice.

Anne couldn't see Eddie's eyes but she knew her former lover well enough as he tried to hide his feelings. With compassion she gripped his free hand.

The beeping escalated suddenly to a fast paced rhythm _beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep_ \- a broken rib had punctured a lung - " _vitals are spiking!_ " the first responders rushed to Eddie's care. Annie's face wrought with worry she could only watch as Eddie started to slip back into the realm of darkness, perhaps now to never return.

The small growth inside the host now had a purpose and localized quickly to the internal trauma. Up to paramedics alone this rupture may well have taken Eddie's life. Yet so quickly these cells worked to remedy it, and in their work they grew in strength and renowned purpose.

His heart jumped when he heard it: three simple words, so small in their length but so heavy in their meaning.

 **I've got us.**

If he had the strength to smile he would have. His blood loss staggering, the words hung in his mind as he passed out - vitals signs stabilizing.

Y

-End 1-


	2. Chapter 2

oh how fun! I kept writing... meh. *.~

A lot happened in the 48 hours since the rocket's destruction at LIFE Foundation's hillside base.

Eddie Brock was rushed to UCSF Medical with a number of scathing injuries. He underwent emergent surgery for the series of ribs cracked on his right side. The providers in the emergency department made note: an apparent wonder he had not died on the ride in, given his lungs were positioned for being severely punctured.

Dr. Dan Lewis acted as a consulting physician; he insisted on MRIs after the surgery was done ('due to the patient's unique history').

The fact that Eddie's body went through the exam without a visceral reaction was proof enough for Anne - and Eddie - that the soundsensitive symbiote was truly gone.

Maybe he'd been wrong... Maybe he had imagined it, during the ambulance ride...the thought alone made Eddie frustrated, angry, and sad.

Evening staff at USCF was winding down food service. Anne had went home (with Dan) for the night - no longer a bedside vigil in his tense hours of recovery.

Eddie lay restlessly immobilized on the hospital bed, stirring in his own hazed state of solitude and thought.

The symbiote: not detected by the MRI, could barely cling to life without drawing on that of his host. Dormant he had laid- at least until Eddie regained enough strength. To take from his host and regain full strength at this point in time, well...it would probably kill him.

Eddie was incredibly out of touch with his body at the moment thanks to the pain medications.

His emotions on the other hand were abismally acute.

Not great at hiding it he could only grip at the bedsheets anxiously as the night nurse took his vitals and administered the evening medications.

"Try to relax, get some sleep," she advised in a soft voice. "You've been through a lot."

Eddie avoided her eye contact. She made to exit the room - enforcing her recommendation the lights were dimmed down and the door nearly closed over: he was left to be alone and took advantage of it.

"Come on buddy... if you're in there" the man whispered to himself - eyeing the door, careful not to speak loud enough that would draw an audience "just say something, give me something here."

He couldn't have imagined it... in the ambulance ride he was _sure_ he felt a presence... hadn't he?

' _Please let me know you're still with me_ '

The internal plea felt pathetic and desperate - so much so he resisted the well of tears to his eyes yet another time. God, he hated feeling like this.

Meds kicking in and brain feeling fuzzy... Eddie falls asleep despite his emotional distortion.

As he drifted off into sleep, Venom worked quietly to rebuild his self: draining his host slightly, gradually... careful not too take too much at once.

Caring about not hurting sure had its drawbacks.

This was going to take a while.

-End 2-


	3. Chapter 3

I guess I'll finish this - it's been fun! Could definitely see myself writing some more stuff post movie. XoXo and thx for the reviews ~.~

It took some time being inpatient before Eddie's vitals stabilized to the doctor's satisfaction. For whatever reason his endocrine levels were constantly up and down - ' _no doubt an after effect from the parasite_ ' Dan had reasoned.

Funny... whenever someone referenced Venom as a parasite the hairs on Eddie's neck went up and his shoulders tensed, as if _he_ was angry on his former counterpart's behalf.

He really did miss him...as sick and twisted as it sounds. He just couldn't get it out of his head - and when Eddie dreamed, the symbiote was there. Every. Night.

Dream or a nightmare depending on your interpretation. Recreating their origin, events of their short-lived pairing.

 _ **I am Venom. And YOU are mine...**_

The only solace to his week-long stint in the hospital was that Anne had visited him every day. She kept him abreast of information about the LIFE foundation's police investigation into the rocket explosion as she knew of it. She also confirmed for Eddie that Jack had received the phone (and his 'colorful' note) and was going to do the right thing with it. Best of all she brought him coffee, every day. Eddie swore to her he'd make it up and the ' _next one's on me_ ' when he's finally discharged.

The argumentative New Yorker in Eddie was in full form on this particularly restless day. Dan almost felt thrust into a 'good cop bad cop' routine with the attendings at USCF, reasoning with Eddie that it was best to play it safe and not discharge until his systems were well and healthy.

"Look, I promise," Dan reasoned with him," you give me just one more 24 period of stable vitals. Sound good?"

Eddie scoffed incredulous and impatient but couldn't help to agree. As hard as he tried to dislike him, Dan's fanboy love for his work made a soft spot in the former investigative reporter.

It wasn't long after his acceptance of Dan's proposal that Anne had to take off from her visit, leaving Eddie Brock alone again and more restless than ever - confined to this room and bed.

Eddie sighed to himself and looked around. "What oh what to do to pass the time..."

Speaking out loud to himself. Second nature at this point.

He grabbed a magazine from his end table that Anne had brought him and flipped through the pages.

"I should really start writing." Eddie mused.

 **You should**. **I bet you'd be really good at it.**

The voice was clear, distinct, so unmistakeable and sudden that Eddie couldn't help exclaiming - throwing the magazine across the room as if there were something to hit.

" _It's you!_ " He said, much too loudly.

"Everything alright Mr. Brock?" The nurse on shift popped in at the noise - a young male. Eddie was shaken and embarrassed but tried quick to course correct. He got up from his bed and moved to get the magazine. "Yep yep! Totally fine - I saw a uh, really big spider. I got him though, you don't have to worry."

The nurse laughed slightly, "Alright. Well we're here if you need anything."

Eddie nodded in thanks and waited anxiously until the nurse was out of sight before b-lining it to the bathroom in his room, shutting the door and moving to the mirror.

Venom his reflection.

Eddie laughed to himself in a dumbfounded cross of happy and psychotic awe.

"I thought you were dead!"

 **I was** _ **almost**_ **dead.** The symbiote's words and reflection all spawned from his head but Eddie heard it just the same and saw expressions on the reflected face. **You almost died too**.

"But you saved me - in the ambulance." Eddie stated inquisitively. Venom nodded, cueing a self-satisfied reaction in Eddie. "I _knew_ it."

 **My cells were reduced to almost nothing. It took a while to regenerate without killing you.**

Eddie soaked that information in. After a moment's pause he looked up to the reflection again, "you saved the world."

Venom's face being a permenant grin Eddie could hardly perceive a reaction in his face being positive. It made the moment eerie.

 **WE saved the world**.

A simple reply. Eddie pressed harder. "You saved my life."

The symbiote reflection shrugged. **What good would Earth be without you?**

Eddie, emotional enough as it was, closed his eyes. Pressing a hand to the mirror, as if through it he could grasp his friend.

His...friend.

Yes.

Venom was his friend. A friend willing to die for him. Possibly the best friend Eddie Brock had ever had in his 30-something years of life.

His eyes shut as he felt himself tear up. "Thank you buddy...I'm really glad you're not dead."

Venom's reaction to this show of emotion was humorous.

 **It there something wrong with you? You seem to cry a lot**.

"I don't fucking cry a lot," Eddie retorted. "I'm not even crying now!" He sniffed as he wiped his nose with his forearm and moved away from the mirror to point an accusing finger at his reflection. "You're an asshole!"

Eddie caught something this time in the reflection - the grin, did it just get slightly wider?

 **And you're a pussy. But, I still like you.**

And there it was: a wink of black eyelid over long slick-looking white eye.

 **Now, when can we get out of here? It smells weird and has too many doctors.**

Eddie stared at his reflection for a moment before smiling, slowly shaking his head. "Soon. We'll be outta here soon."

-FIN-

*mwah~!* hope you liked it!


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